THE CALIFORNIA GULL 



IN the fall of 1897 I went to Provo City, Utah, and spent 

 something like two years in teaching. Having always 

 been a lover of gardening and farming, the next spring in 

 partnership with a friend I rented a piece of land not far 

 from the city for gardening, since I could do this without 

 interfering with my teaching, especially as the heavy part 

 of the gardening work would come during the summer va- 

 cation. Along in April I hired a team and went to plow 

 this land. About ten o'clock the first forenoon I was sur- 

 prized to see a large flock of white birds approaching. In 

 a moment they were alighting on all sides, squealing, run- 

 ning over the plowed ground, and having a good time in 

 general. As long as I plowed in this field these birds re- 

 mained. At times a few would fly away, but others were 

 always coming to take their places. Before long there were 

 two or three hundred of these birds in the field, fussing and 

 quarreling over every bug and worm my plow turned up. 

 They were so anxious to get these worms that they would 

 fly ahead of the plow and sit as close as they possibly 

 could until I passed them. Sometimes when a worm 

 showed in the furrow I have had a gull jump in just ahead 

 of the turning soil and would feel sure it would be plowed 

 under, but some way it always managed to get out just in 



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